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The night air felt crisp on the two teens’ skin as they walked through the streets of the city. It was around 1:00 am, around the perfect hour to be ensuing hijinks that would draw any rebellious young adult.
However, one of the young adults wasn’t so much on board with the idea of heading into a rail yard of trains at this time of night, especially when illegal activity was involved.
“Spinel, are you sure about this? What if we get caught and it’ll go on our record?” Said Penelope, the taller and nervous girl. She adjusted her eyepatch that rested on her left eye.
The shorter girl beside her snickered and blew a raspberry. Her magenta dyed pigtails bounced as she laughed. She carried a duffle bag that clanked around as she walked.
“Pfft lighten up, dollface! I’ve been here many many times and I haven’t been caught!” She said but then her smirk faded. “Well I do have a record for stealin’..and trespassin...and maybe a bit of public drunkenness.. but hey at least murder ain’t on my list!” She said as Penelope rolled her eye.
“That doesn’t exactly ease my nerves. Why can’t we be, oh I don’t know, staying inside where we can’t commit any crimes? I wanted to watch a movie.”
“We can watch a movie later! I just wanna get my tag up here real quick and we’re almost there! Made it this far so why back off now?”
Spinel was right: the rail yard was just up ahead. A tall fence with barbed wire at the top protected anyone from trespassing in but that was not going to stop the spunky teen.
She stopped in her tracks once she reached the fence and looked left and right while Penelope looked at her confusedly.
“Aaaand how do you suppose we get in there? There’s clearly barbed wire so climbing it is a lost cause...unless you really do want to be cut up but don’t come crying to me if you get scratched,” Penelope said, folding her arms.
She didn’t really want to go in the rail yard but being alone out here was maybe a bit worse. She had no idea who was out there that could potentially hurt her. The streets were bare except for a few blinking streetlights and the sound of water next to the trains.
Spinel rolled her eyes at Penelope’s comment and brushed it away. She knew what she was doing and didn’t like to be told the opposite.
“Okay okay I see yer point, Peeps. Buuut I’m not plannin’ to go up and over like that,” she said and a smirk grew on her face. She raced over to the fence and grabbed onto the holes of the bottom. She started to pull upwards, letting part of the fence part way and showed a large hole.
Spinel looked over to Penelope with a satisfied smile and gestured a hand towards the hole.
“After ya, my doll,” she said to be like an escort.
Penelope’s eye widened and she shook her head. What the hell?!
“How..where did this come from?!” She whisper shouted.
“Just a simple snippety snip of bolt cutters,” Spinel answered while pretending to be cutting with two fingers. “Now come on!”
“Fine. But only your doing this okay?”
“Fine by me! I’m just glad I got someone to tag along with me!”
While Penelope was indeed impressed and wanted to giggle at the pun, the feeling of concern and worry overpowered it. She couldn’t believe Spinel could be so reckless! But at the same time....it was attractive.
No..she hated to be the motherly figure but there had to be times to put your foot down no matter how exciting your girlfriend was.
“Okay but can you please make this quick before you get caught?” She said, hoping her words would finally reach to her.
That wasn’t the case.
“Nope!”
“SPINEL?!”
“Yea that’s my name! Don’t wear it out! I’m already up here so why stop now? Don’t stop me nowww!” She wanted to start singing the tune but stopped herself. She had a thing to fulfill and this high of adrenaline and weed could run out soon.
Spinel used a fingerless gloved hand to lightly push her girlfriend into the hole in the fence. Penelope tried not to scream but let out a small squeak as she fell into the rail yard and onto the dirt.
Spinel tried not to giggle as she made her way herself into the yard and closed her makeshift door.
“Let me help ya, my Lady Klutz,” she joked as she held out a hand to help her girlfriend up from the dirt.
Penelope looked up at her with a mix of annoyance and not amusement but took the hand as she got herself up.
“Okay you got me in here, Bozo. Can we please get this over with before we end up behind bars,” she said, brushing the dirt off of her.
“Not a problem, toots! We’ll be in and outta here before ya can say supercalifraga...disticexipi...docus..”
“That’s now how you say it-“
“Same thing! Let’s go!”
The two teens began their walk towards the parked subway cars. Some were inactive due to breaking down and left to rot here while others frequently went to and fro for transportation.
Thankfully, nobody would be around here to catch them so they were free to do whatever they wanted. Some cars already had bright and colorful words on them with different designs. There were a few phallic designs and curse words but most looked like they were done with expression and passion.
Spinel stopped in her tracks-literally she was on the train tracks- and looked around with a finger on her chin in thought.
“Hmmm...” she hummed before making a decision. Her eyes locked onto a train car that had yet to be painted on and smiled. “Ding ding ding we have a winner!”
She grabbed Penelope’s hand and pulled her over to the train car. The bag was dropped onto the ground with a thunk and a clank while a phone was pressed with a tap.
Music started to play from it that wasn’t too loud to be heard from others but was loud enough for two sets of ears. It started with light strums of a bass and the sound of a woman’s voice.
“ Here the come, yo, here they come. Here they comes yo, here they come. Here they come, yo, here they come.”
It was then joined with a man’s voice and Spinel’s to sing along.
“This or that, this or that. This or that, this or that. This or that..” Spinel grabbed a spray can once the “yo c’mon!” played and knocked off the cap. She pressed down onto the nozzle and began to spray the train car, the can made a sizzling sound with the beat of the rap music.
The color Spinel chose first was pink, just like the color of her hair. She was drawing the first letter of her name: S.
Penelope watched as her girlfriend sprayed and sang to the music. This was her first time coming along with her after multiple asks and pleads. It was interesting to see how much she was into it. Spinel was completely into the zone of spraying her name and absolutely loved it.
It wasn’t like Penelope didn’t want to be with her and do things the other liked but it was the fact that this was illegal. She didn’t want to be seen with a charge of vandalism on her perfect record.
But...maybe this wasn’t so bad...
She did want to break out of the mold and try to....
No. She should just watch Spinel and any unsuspecting people.
The choice was hers..just like the song said.
Spinel had already moved onto the last part of her name: the L. Another song began to play and sometimes, Spinel could say the words just hypnotize her. She loved its flashy ways, but instead of being so paid she was broke.
The letters of her name were blocky and had a 3D effect on them. In the P, the space had a heart in it and part of the N had an arrow pointing upwards. It had vibrant colors of pinks and whites and blacks: her favorite colors.
Over the years of learning how to spray effectively and efficiently, it didn’t take her very long to be almost finished. She lived for the rush of being rebellious, the sound of the hissing of the spray can and the thumping of the music. The smells never bothered her as she inhaled the fumes, slightly creating a high but not as much as when she inhaled cannabis.
What could Spinel say? She loved graffiti.
After a few more sprays and songs, Spinel was adding the finishing touches of a white outline around the letters. A thought came to her head and looked over at Penelope. She couldn’t help but silently chuckle.
The girl had been watching her spray with an amazed look in her eye as if she was in a trance. She looked at each detail and color of the piece, taking it all in.
She suddenly had a little urge to pick up a can and put something next to Spinel’s work. She looked down to the bag next to her that was filled with cans but her thoughts were stopped at Spinel’s voice.
“Ya know ya can do this too, right? I didn’t just bring ya here for me. I wanted to see what ya got,” She said with a smile.
Penelope smiled back but fell. She was a little nervous at the thought of doing something reckless. Her hand itched to grab a can but her other hand wanted to slap herself.
“A-are you sure?” She asked nervously. “I..I don’t want to get caught or anything..”
“Hey it’ll be fine-“
“And what if I get thrown in jail? And then my parents would be so mad at me and..”
“No they won’t-“
“No they will! My friends will be shocked that I’ve done something like this and and and-“
“PENELOPE!” Spinel shouted and grabbed Penelope’s hands lightly, shaking her out of her thoughts. The brunette blinked and looked at Spinel.
“Yes?”
Spinel sighed. “It’s gonna be okay. Just a quick lil spray and yer good,” she said in a calming tone. She let go of one hand and put a can into it. She smiled softly at her girlfriend.
“Ya got this, Peeps. Spray your heart out.”
Penelope looked down at the can in her hand. Spinel had chosen a light pink color, which was her favorite color. She smiled back at her and leaned in to give her a small kiss on the lips.
Spinel was a bit surprised but pressed her lips back in the kiss, feeling the softness and tasting her lipstick.
With this new confidence, Penelope parted from the kiss and faced the car. This was her first act of crime so she had to do this right. Spinel had put on a different song this time.
She grinned at the lyrics and began to sing along. “Get the money, dolla dolla bills y’all.”
Penelope pressed down on the nozzle of the spray can and felt the paint escape, watching it color the car. She giggled a little with excitement as she began to move her arms up and down.
Spinel stood behind her and watched. She had a proud smile like a mother did as her girlfriend sprayed the car with light pink paint. The sound of the music filled their ears and felt the beat in their hearts.
But that wasn’t the only sound that was heard. Spinel’s ears picked up crunching of rocks approaching them rapidly and she whipped her head to the side to see a light flashing in the distance.
Her blood ran cold and her eyes widened. Their cover had been blown and police officers were rushing towards them, one of them even had a large, barking dog on a leash.
“Oh shit! It’s the fuzz!” Spinel said to Penelope, who just finished spraying the N in her name. The other girl looked to where she was pointing and dropped the cans. Tears threatened to roll down and her heart rate picked up.
“No no no this is exactly what I was trying to not happen!” She said with worry.
The officers were approaching fast and the two had to make their escape one way or another. Spinel swallowed down the fear and rushed to the bag and Penelope. She snatched her hand and slung the bag over her shoulder.
“There is no way in hell im lettin’ those pigs get to us! C’mom, Peeps!” She shouted to her. With a hand, Spinel scrolled through her music as Penelope looked at her with bewilderment.
“Spinel! What are you doing? We have to keep moving!” She yelled.
“Aw cmon I’m tryna find a good song! Nothin like a good chase song haha!”
Once Spinel had found the right one, she used a finger to press play. Her phone started to make a mix of rapid bongo sounds and record scratching sounds. Perfect.
The police were gaining on them fast. They were shouting at them to stop and that they were the police. The dog with them was barking and snarling with his large teeth.
So much adrenaline pulsed through the girls’ veins, pushing them to go further. The wind whipped around them, the parked trains looked like blurs and the drums pounded as they ran on the tracks.
“Hey this is like that one game!-“
“Spinel, this is no time for comparisons!”
Spinel’s eyes searched around the rail yard to find anything that could avoid them being arrested.
That subway? No that’s parked..
The water? No that looks way too cold and I am NOT swimmin’..
That subway headin towards us? No-wait a train? HOTDAWG THATS IT!
In front of them, a subway was pulling itself out of park and was rolling towards them. The lights were on and shown in their eyes as they ran.
“THERES A TRAIN!” Penelope shouted. “We gotta move!”
“I know there’s a train! That’s exactly what we need!” Spinel said and picked up her speed. The train was now picking its own speed up, clanking on the metal tracks. A loud sound erupted from the horn, trying to tell them to GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY but wouldn’t stop Spinel.
“Might be a crazy idea, when aren’t my ideas crazy, but we gotta hop on that if we don’t want our asses in jail!” She exclaimed.
“What?!”
“YA HEARD ME! Now once the train’s close enough, go to the side and we can hop onto it!”
Penelope couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The police were right on their tails.
“Isn’t there a better idea?”
“Do ya have any?”
“....no”
“Well there ya go! C’mon! Faster faster, Peeps!”
Penelope tried to use her long legs to her advantage, taking longer strides while Spinel used her own endurance. The brunette could feel her legs screaming at her to stop but she couldn’t let that happen.
She had to keep going.
The train blared it’s horn once again, now closer to them and so were the police. The boys in blue got the hint to get out of the way while the girls kept going.
The nose of the train was edging closer.
Closer.
Closer.
“NOW PEEPS NOW!”
With one large side step, the girls moved their bodies to the right and the train continued forward on the tracks. It was now beside them.
Spinel spotted the end of the train and surged forward, leaving Penelope behind a bit. She held out a hand to a railing of the caboose and leapt onto the platform. With another hand, she latched onto Penelope’s hand, sending her off of the ground.
“SPINELLL!!”
“I GOTCHA PEEPS! I GOTCHA!”
Spinel pulled Penelope onto the platform with her but used a bit too much of a pull, sending them both backwards and hitting against the doors.
Both of them breathed heavily, trying to catch any sort of breath they had. Their legs aches but took their time to stand up and watch the police officers become smaller and smaller as the train continued on the tracks.
They had escaped without a scratch..
Well except for a few bruises from doing this but still! No handcuffs!
Penelope looked back at Spinel, who’s eyes did the same. They stared for awhile, trying to process what had just happened until Spinel broke the silence with laughter.
“Holy fuck! We just did that!” Spinel said, punching the air with a fist. “You were like ohh noo and I was like do do DOO TO THE RESCUE!”
“I just ran from the law...” said Penelope in disbelief.
“I WAS SO FAST LIKE ZOOOOM!”
“I committed a crime..”
“THE COPS WERE LIKE THIS IS THE POLICE! AND THE DOG WAS LIKE BARK BARK BARK BUT NOPE THAT DIDNT STOP US!”
“Oh my god...”
“OH WE ARE SO DOIN THAT AGAIN!”
“No...”